Category: Book Chapter

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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Kipper packed a few clothes and pictures of her littermates, nephews, and niece inside plastic sleeves to protect them.  It wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d taken with her the last time she went away.  She was in more of a hurry this time, but it was less hectic.  More purposeful.  More planned.

Trudith drove her to the airport.  It had been hard saying goodbye to her family.  It was awful saying goodbye to Trudith, her best friend on Earth.  There’s nothing like a sad black lab mutt with melting brown eyes to crumble your heart to pieces.  Even three cute kittens couldn’t compare. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 5: Kipper”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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Petra hated waiting.  The waiter was taking forever, and her three kittens were crawling all over her and Lucky, grabbing at the silverware and condiments on the table.  The paper packets of sugar had already been counted, arranged in patterns, and finally scattered across the table top.  Why did kittens have to make restaurants so hard?  Why couldn’t they sit still? Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 4: Petra”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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Safe inside the ancient octopus base on Europa, Jenny itched to be back in Brighton’s Destiny, flying free, but the little Whirligig ship was parked, inert on the roof of the floating base.  Jenny was stuck inside one the plethora of spherical rooms off of the main central chamber of the base.  It was a reasonably sized room until someone had decided to shove a table into it.  The curved walls and ceiling hadn’t been designed to accommodate a rectangular table with four otters, two dogs, and a cat seated around it. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 3: Jenny”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or skip ahead.

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Paw prints marked the golden, glittering sand.  Tiny, perfect kitten prints danced flirtatiously up and down the line of wet beach, slowly dissolving under the soggy, sloppy wavelets lapping at the land.

Larger canine paw prints marched straight into the oncoming waves, and the dog who made them — a wiry-furred, beard-faced terrier wearing blue and yellow swim trunks — splashed wildly in the surf.  Sea foam clung to the fur on his ankles and his furiously wagging brush of a tail. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 2: Kipper”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer to read in e-book or paperback form, learn more here.  Or if you want, jump back to book one or return to the end of book two.

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The pale glow of Jupiter lit the moon’s watery surface.  Europa’s recently melted ocean reflected the gas giant’s ruddy face back at itself, broken by ripples where Brighton’s Destiny disturbed the water on takeoff.

The dark metal V-shape of the two-man spaceship skimmed over the ocean before veering upward in a sharp climb out of Europa’s gravity well.  Spacesuit clad paws eased off on the throttle, and Brighton’s Destiny leveled off into a smooth arc toward Jupiter. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 1: Jenny”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead to Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.

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Through the glass of the door, Kipper saw the pointy ears and orange fur of her brother and sister.  They faced the other way, seated at a table and watching a television screen on the wall.  The screen showed a pug dog gesticulating wildly.  Trudith and Lucky also sat at the table, but they seemed preoccupied with something Kipper couldn’t see.

Kipper opened the door quietly.  Keith stood behind her.  Before going in, Kipper stayed in the doorway and simply listened to the voices of these people she loved and hadn’t seen in so long. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 33: Papa Fido’s T-Bone Steakery”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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The Jolly Barracuda docked at Deep Sky Anchor for the first time since Kipper had joined the crew.  She watched the gray metal habitat rings of the rotating station approach on the main bridge’s viewscreen, and she remembered all the times she’d watched space fly by through one of the porthole windows elsewhere on the ship instead.  She was sure that those windows were all crowded full of the pug faces of miserably wet Persians now, but she wasn’t among them.  She was on the bridge, manning one of the stations.  She had come a long way. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 32: Earth”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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The first of the Kipper Brighton:  The Hero of Europa videos hit the sketchier parts of the interwebs before Kipper’s friends and family even knew if she’d survived the rescue mission to Europa.  No one in the rest of the Solar System knew what was happening in orbit of Jupiter.  Had the Jolly Barracuda succeeded?  How many had they rescued?  Or was the Jolly Barracuda just another ship smashed to pieces by the raptors? Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 31: The Solar System”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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For all the responsibility hanging on her shoulders, Kipper stood uselessly in the dark, watching Emily’s spacesuit-wrapped tentacles fly around, working the panels.  The glowing lights on the panels danced, and Kipper watched their reflections play across the bubble of helmet over Emily’s eyes.  None of it meant anything to her, but clearly it meant something to Emily.

Kipper’s paws itched to sign questions at Emily:  “What are you learning?  What does it say?  Can we use this base for anything?”  But she kept her paws to herself, endeavoring to stay out of Emily’s way and keep from distracting her.  It would do her no good to act like an impatient kitten, swatting at anything she saw just to evoke a reaction. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 30: Europa”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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In the hidden base on Europa, the minutes passed like hours, but back on Earth the hours passed like minutes.  Trudith’s apartment had become the spontaneous headquarters for her scramball team’s efforts.  Dahlia and several of the other dogs, at Trudith’s request, had brought laptop computers with them.  Now they crouched around the different computer screens haphazardly arranged on the coffee table.  Clips of Kipper played on all the screens. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 29: Earth”